1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a headgear-holder supporting apparatus to which a headgear holder detachably attached.
2. Related Art Statement
Conventionally, in the case where an embroidery sewing machine is used to form an embroidery in a headgear having a visor, such as a baseball cap, the headgear is held on a headgear holder and then the headgear holder with the headgear is attached to the embroidery sewing machine. While the headgear holder is moved in a horizontal direction and/or rotated about an axis line parallel to the horizontal direction, the sewing machine forms an embroidery in an embroidery area on the headgear. Meanwhile, when a headgear is set on a headgear holder, a headgear-holder supporting device may be used so that an embroidery area of the headgear held on the headgear holder may have an appropriate curved shape.
There is known a headgear-holder supporting device which includes a main structure which is adapted to be fixed to a base member, such as a table, and which includes a curved portion, and a headgear-holder supporting structure which is integrally connected to the main structure. A headgear holder is detachably attached to the headgear-holder supporting structure.
The headgear holder that is attached to the headgear-holder supporting device is essentially provided by a generally cylindrical main frame member and a pressing frame member which is externally fastened to the main frame member such that the headgear is sandwiched therebetween and that the fastened pressing frame member can be unfastened from the main frame member. One of opposite ends of the pressing frame member is hinged to the main frame member, and the other end thereof is connected via a fastening member to the main frame member. There is also known a headgear holder wherein both of opposite ends of a pressing frame member are connected via respective fastening members to a main frame member.
When a headgear is set on the headgear holder, first, the headgear is put on the main frame member and then the pressing frame member is externally fastened over the headgear. The position and shape of the headgear are minutely adjusted and the pressing frame member is fastened via the fastening member to the main frame member. Thus, the headgear is set or held on the headgear holder.
Recently, in many cases, an embroidery is formed in not only a frontal portion but also one or two temporal portions of a headgear. For those cases, there has been used a headgear holder which holds a headgear such that a large embroidery area including a frontal portion and two temporal portions maintain its appropriate curved shape. In the headgear holder, a pressing frame member is connected at one end or each end thereof to a lateral portion or portions or an even lower portion or portions of a main frame member via a fastening member or members.
However, in the case where a headgear-holder supporting device supports a headgear holder which holds a headgear whose temporal portion or portions are to be embroidered, an operator cannot easily see the temporal portions of the headgear or the fastening member or members of the pressing frame member. Therefore, it needs a long working time to complete the setting of a headgear on the headgear holder by putting the headgear on the main frame member, fastening the pressing frame member over the headgear to the main frame member, and adjusting the positions and shapes of the embroidery areas in the temporal portions of the headgear. Thus, the working efficiency is very low.
In the above-identified headgear-holder supporting device, the curved portion of the main structure extends into an internal space of a headgear held by the headgear holder attached to the headgear-holder supporting structure. Thus, the headgear is held on the headgear holder such that the embroidery areas (i.e., frontal and temporal portions) of the headgear have appropriate shapes for embroidering.
However, in the above prior headgear-holder supporting device, the main structure has an unchangeable dimension in a direction in which the curved portion thereof extends into the internal space of the headgear. Therefore, the prior device cannot be used for setting each of headgears in various sizes on the headgear holder while appropriately stretching an embroidery area of each headgear on the headgear holder.